Imaging systems, such as diagnostic medical ultrasound systems, are routinely used in medical applications for the purpose of imaging various body tissues and organs and for other diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. These systems allow medical professionals to view the internal conditions of a patient thereby enabling them to render a better diagnosis. In one example of a diagnostic medical ultrasound system, a piezoelectric transducer acquires image data by transmitting a series of ultrasonic pulses into a patient and receiving the reflected echoes therefrom. These echoes are converted/manipulated into an image and displayed on a monitor or stored for later use.
Imaging systems are generally active devices, i.e. relying on transmitting some form of energy, such as acoustic waves or x-rays, into a subject and detecting emissions from, or absorption by, the subject in response to that energy. Passive medical diagnostic systems, in contrast, rely solely on detecting the natural emissions from a subject, such as acoustic, electrical, magnetic or thermal emissions. Exemplary passive systems include electrocardiogram devices or thermal imaging devices. Active systems may be combined with passive systems, such as a diagnostic medical ultrasound system which features an electrocardiogram detector.
At the most basic level, current imaging systems, whether active, passive or combinations thereof, are only capable of determining the presence, including relative location, intensity and duration, or absence of a detectable emission within their field of view and reporting that determination in some manner to the user. For example, a diagnostic medical ultrasound system is capable of detecting all acoustic-reflective tissues within the transducer's field of view by detecting the reflected echoes, as described above. The ultrasound system computes the location, intensity and duration of the detected responses and plots/renders them on a two dimensional display for the user. This has the effect of creating an acoustic image of the portion of the subject being scanned.
Unfortunately, current imaging systems are incapable of identifying or “knowing” what they are imaging. A trained imaging technician is still required to interpret the images, determine what is being imaged and render a diagnosis. Further, depending on the portion of the subject being imaged, adjustments to the imaging system may be necessary to achieve optimal viewing, and therefore optimal diagnosis. Such adjustments, such as beam angle or beam focus in the case of ultrasound, must also be made by a trained imaging technician who recognizes the anatomical structures being imaged and is cognizant of the adjustments necessary to achieve an optimal image.
Some imaging systems permit the operator to identify the anatomical structure being imaged to the imaging system. Once identified, the imaging system then makes automatic adjustments to particular imaging parameters based on information with which it has been programmed in regard to the operator-identified structure. Unfortunately, this requires that the operator make an accurate determination as to the anatomical structures being imaged, as well as select the proper imaging mode to which the automatically adjusted imaging parameters apply, and that the structures conform substantially to the system programming. Such manual identification, however, creates a distraction from the examination process. Further, if the structure being imaged is diseased or otherwise fails to conform to the programming of the imaging system, the imaging system may make incorrect adjustments resulting in sub-optimal imaging. In addition, such manual identification and accompanying adjustments are static and cannot account for certain anatomical structures which are dynamic in nature.
Accordingly, there is a need for a diagnostic medical imaging system which is capable of comprehending the anatomical structures being imaged so as to optimize the imaging of, and/or perform functions, on the image of those structures.